European Space Agency (ESA)

Taking a global view: How satellites provide a unique perspective on our changing planet

Wed 18 November 2015

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms

The Earth has a population of over 7 billion, and it has to support over 100 more people every minute of every day. This growing and shifting population is testing the resilience of the world’s natural resources as never before.

Satellites provide a unique view of our changing planet and Europe now has its own Earth Observation Programme – Copernicus. This programme includes a family of Sentinel satellites which together, provide new information about climate, land and water resources and the atmosphere, the role played by human activities in these changes and how these will influence our daily lives.

This talk will introduce the Copernicus Programme, and use examples from the work at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) to show just how dramatically we are changing the face of the Earth. The vast amount of data flowing from these satellites are explored in terms of their relevance for informing policies that increase resilience and reduce environmental risks to global social, political and economic security. Demonstrating how this satellite-derived information can contribute to the new Sustainable Development Goals provides an exciting insight into taking steps towards meeting the goals, i.e., in the eradication of poverty and the creation of a more equal, sustainable and resilient world.

This public lecture will be given by Dr David Wilkinson, the Director of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability and Dr Alan Belward, the Head of the Land Resource Management Unit, both of whom are based at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy.

Cost: Free